Paul McCartney: Encyclopedia II - Paul McCartney - Role in The Beatles

Paul McCartney - Role in The Beatles

McCartney first rose to fame as a bassist, pianist, guitarist, singer and songwriter for The Beatles. He met John Lennon at a church picnic in 1957 and was invited to join Lennon's band The Quarrymen as a guitarist. McCartney's schoolmate, George Harrison joined soon after as a third guitarist, followed by the addition of Stuart Sutcliffe on bass. Pete Best joined on drums, rounding out the original lineup of the band. McCartney took over bass guitar duties in the early 1960s, when Lennon and Harrison declined following the departure of Sutcliffe.

McCartney formed a close working relationship with Lennon and they collaborated on many songs, although working "eyeball to eyeball" (as Lennon had called it) only in the early years of the band. Out of all The Beatles compositions, it is claimed only 27 were composed by both equally. Typically, one would write most or part of a song and the other would finish it, incorporate it into another song or suggest useful changes. Due to an early agreement between the two, all Beatles songs written by either of them are credited to both - this came about because John Lennon liked the idea of "Lennon & McCartney" echoing the songwriting credit of "Leiber & Stoller", the songwriters whose names appeared on many of the records they owned from the 1950s. Very early copies of The Beatles first official single Love Me Do are credited to McCartney - Lennon.

One of McCartney's greatest songs, covered by a record number of artists, is "Yesterday". McCartney claims the melody came to him in a dream, and was not sure for some time that the melody was original. Paul says that the original, provisional lyrics were "Scrambled eggs / Oh my baby how I love your legs".

During the early years of The Beatles' recording career, McCartney developed rapidly as a musician, singer and songwriter. He was heavily influenced by Buddy Holly and Little Richard and Little Richard's trademark high-pitched 'wooo', which he used prominently as a musical punctuation on early songs like "From Me To You".

The left-handed McCartney also became one of the most creative and influential rock bassists of his time, elevating the electric bass from back-row obscurity to prominence, inspiring many to take up the instrument. By 1965 McCartney was pressuring the engineers at EMI to get a better bass sound on Beatles recordings, frustrated by the relatively weak sound on their earlier records. His bass playing and writing during the Beatles' most creative phase in 1965-67 was heavily influenced by the work of American producer-composer Brian Wilson, leader of The Beach Boys, whose classic album Pet Sounds set new standards for recording and featured bass parts unprecedented in pop music. As a result of hearing Wilson's work, McCartney began to pay increasing attention to both the sound and arrangement of his bass lines, often taking advantage of Abbey Road's new multi-track tape decks to re-record more complex parts after the basic tracks had been laid down. In fact, Pet Sounds was a direct response to Rubber Soul and Revolver

Among The Beatles, Paul was the last to marry and the only one never to divorce. Toward the end of his relationship with actress Jane Asher, McCartney met Linda Eastman, an American photographer at a Georgie Fame concert in the Bag O' Nails nightclub in Kingly Street, London in May 1967. They met again a couple of weeks later at the June 1, 1967 launch party for Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and the relationship blossomed over the next two years. He and Linda married at a small civil ceremony at Marylebone Registry Office in 1969, while he was still a member of The Beatles. He adopted Linda's daughter from her first marriage, Heather (born 1962), and they went on to have three other children together: Mary (born 1969, and named after Paul's late mother), Stella (born 1971), and James (born 1977, and named after Paul's late father, who died in 1976). Paul and Linda would remain married and devoted to each other until Linda's death from breast cancer in 1998; the couple reportedly spent less than a week apart during their entire marriage.

In the latter part of The Beatles' reign over pop culture, Lennon's interest in the band waned whilst McCartney's pop ear was never more finely tuned. He wrote such pop classics as "Hey Jude", "Let It Be", and "The Long and Winding Road".

It is now generally accepted that McCartney was the motivator for much of The Beatles' later work. After they retired from touring in mid-1966, Lennon and Harrison retreated to secure country estates in the so-called 'stockbroker belt', well outside London. But McCartney continued to live in the city, first in a house in the centre of town, then at a larger property in St John's Wood, a short distance from Abbey Road Studios. He was often seen at major cultural events such as the International Times launch party at The Roundhouse (he attended in disguise). He also avidly delved into the visual arts, becoming a close friend of leading art dealer and gallery owners; explored experimental film; and regularly attended movie, theatrical and classical music performances. He has also released albums under the name The Fireman, and other experimental music albums under his own name, such as Liverpool Sound Collage.

Although he was not the first in the group to take LSD, McCartney was the first British pop star to openly admit to using it, and his frank revelation during a newspaper interview in early summer 1967 made headlines around the world. In a famous BBC TV interview broadcast nationally on June 19, 1967, McCartney was again asked about his LSD use and his answer was impressive for its clarity:

"I was asked a question by a newspaper, and the decision was whether to tell a lie or tell him the truth. I decided to tell him the truth ... but I really didn't want to say anything, you know, because if I had my way I wouldn't have told anyone. I'm not trying to spread the word about this. But the man from the newspaper is the man from the mass medium. I'll keep it a personal thing if he does too you know ... if he keeps it quiet. But he wanted to spread it so it's his responsibility, you know, for spreading it, not mine."

In spite of his statements then, and later admissions that he also used cocaine regularly at that time, McCartney was fortunate to be one of the few leading British pop stars who did not fall foul of the (later found to be corrupt) Drug Squad, as did Lennon, Harrison and many other friends including The Rolling Stones and Donovan.

On the musical side, McCartney was the first Beatle to record an outside project, composing (with George Martin) a score for the 1966 feature film The Family Way, for which he won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Instrumental Theme. He also wrote and produced several successful recordings for other artists and on some of these outside productions he worked under a pseudonym, reflecting his enduring fascination with disguises and aliases.

McCartney devised many of The Beatles' late 1960s projects including the Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band concept, the Magical Mystery Tour film and record, and the suite of songs that closes the Abbey Road album.

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In 1969, despite obvious signs that the band was falling apart, he attempted to convince The Beatles to return to the stage, suggesting the Get Back project, which evolved into their valedictory film and album Let It Be. Although McCartney hoped it might revive them, the film made it obvious that the band was done as a creative force and that bickering, jealousy and the pressures of being The Beatles had driven the four musicians apart. Regardless of the internal strife, the band retained their popularity, and the public's interest in them was only intensified in late 1969 when an urban legend was started that McCartney died and was secretly replaced in 1966 by one Billy Shears. It was believed Brian Epstein was replaced too, but the whole conspiracy turned out to be false. This hoax is still a popular topic throughout cyberspace, and has been the subject of no less than five books, the best and most definitive being Turn Me On, Dead Man: The Beatles and the "Paul-Is-Dead" Hoax by Andru J. Reeve [1]

Although Starr had briefly quit in 1968, and Harrison had done likewise in 1969, it was Lennon who was the first to leave and not return in August/September 1969. McCartney publicly announced the break-up on April 10, 1970, a week before releasing his first solo album. The album McCartney featured a press release inside with a fake interview with himself explaining the end of the Beatles. The band was legally dissolved after he filed a lawsuit on December 31, 1970.

By this time Lennon and McCartney's friendship had been eroded by years of friction and rivalry; they were reconciled to some extent before Lennon's death on December 8, 1980.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Role in The Beatles", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki